Methods and system for general skinning via hardware accelerators

ABSTRACT

Complex computer graphics forms and motions can be constructed either by hand or with motion or geometry capture technologies, once they are created, they are difficult to modify, particularly at runtime. Interpolation provides a way to leverage artist-generated source material. Methodologies for efficient runtime interpolation between multiple forms or multiple motion segments enables computers to perform more realistic animation in real-time. Shape interpolation is applied to predefined figures to create smoothly skinned figures that deform in natural ways. Predefined figures are selected using a search technique that reduces the amount of interpolation required to produce real-time animation.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for efficientlymodifying the shape of geometries in a smooth continuous manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern animation and modeling systems enable artists to createhigh-quality content, but provide limited support for interactiveapplications. Although complex forms and motions can be constructedeither by hand or with motion or geometry capture technologies, oncethey are created, they are difficult to render, particularly at runtime.

At this time, a variety of 3D scanning methodologies are available thatcan capture shapes that exist in the real world. Motion capturetechnologies are also capable of recording complex performances. Capturedevices are restricted to recording shapes and motions that can beobserved and that actually exist (e.g., such systems cannot capture themotion of a dinosaur). In contrast to the scanning devices, highlyskilled artists have the advantage of being able to model complexexisting shapes, as well as imaginary shapes and animations.

Since the 1980s 3D graphics hardware accelerators were focused on CADrequirements. CAD requirements implied rigid bodies, i.e., shapes thatare most often modified by a single transformation matrix. As computersbecame more powerful, developers began to use computers to mimic movingcharacters such as robots. Making the leap from CAD to moving robots wasconceptually simplistic; moving parts were separately modeled as rigidbodies that were connected to each other by seams at all moving joints.As the demand for more animated and lifelike characters increased,hardware accelerators evolved that added native support to computersystems for rendering non-rigid objects. This in turn, raised thequality bar for character rendering. However, the hardware support haslacked the ability to attain the level supported by software skinningtechniques available in authoring tools used to create content fornon-real-time media such as movies. Examples of such skinning techniquesinclude terms such as “smart-skin,” “FFD's,” “wraps,” expressions, andso on.

Artists want to use these techniques to create characters that can beefficiently rendered on 3-D hardware accelerators. Yet while there are alarge number of such techniques, most of them make assumptions aboutrunning on a general purpose CPU that does not translate into efficientoperation on a streaming DSP or Graphics Processor Unit (GPU).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides systems and methods for generating a computergraphic of a shape to be animated. The shape has at least one jointwherein the shape changes about the joint, such as would occur in asimulation of an arm bending about an elbow. The system and methodcomprise providing a mesh of at least three points, where each point isdefined in three-dimensional space. The mesh is indicative of the shapein a base position. Additionally, information is provided that isindicative of the position of the points in the mesh corresponding tothe shape at predefined positions wherein the shape has changed aboutthe joint, e.g. the arm at different bend positions, with respect to thebase position. A changed position of the shape is generated from theposition of the points in the mesh by interpolating between theinformation indicative of the position of the points in the meshcorresponding to the shape at selected predefined positions. Theselected positions are identified as the closest positions in parameterspace to a desired or approximated position. Preferably, the predefinedpositions are selected using a search of joint parameters. Otherfeatures and embodiments of the present invention are described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The system and methods for managing the computational resources ofgraphics processor(s) are further described with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system that issuitable for use with the described embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary system in which the inventivemethodologies can be employed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary abstract space and isuseful in understanding some of the concepts behind the inventiveembodiments.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a portion of a character having a frame,joints, and an out skin formed by a mesh.

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate the process of mathematically approximating themovement of a shape about a joint area.

FIG. 5D illustrates the process of blending the area of the mesh about ajoint portion of a shape.

FIG. 6 illustrates the process of adjusting or correcting a shape withartist corrections in the area of a joint after a mathematicalapproximation of a movement about a joint.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a CPU and a GPU in communication to performthe processes described in connection with an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Overview

Modern animation and modeling systems enable artists to createhigh-quality content, but provide limited support for interactiveapplications. Although complex forms and motions can be constructedeither by hand or with motion or geometry capture technologies, oncethey are created, they are difficult to modify, particularly at runtime.

Interpolation or blending provides a way to leverage artist-generatedsource material to provide realistic interactive animation. Presentedhere are methodologies for efficient runtime interpolation betweenmultiple forms or multiple motion segments. Once the illustrated anddescribed system is provided with example forms and motions, itgenerates a continuous range of forms referred to as a “shape” or acontinuous range of motions.

Additionally, shape interpolation methodology is applied to articulatedfigures to create smoothly skinned figures that deform in natural ways.The runtime interpolation of the forms or motions runs fast enough to beused in interactive applications such as games.

Exemplary Computing Device

FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a briefgeneral description of a suitable computing environment in which theinvention may be implemented. It should be understood, however, thathandheld, portable and other computing devices and computing objects ofall kinds are contemplated for use in connection with the presentinvention. While a general purpose computer is described below, this isbut one example. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that theinvention may be practiced with other computer system configurations.Other well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurationsthat may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are notlimited to, personal computers (PCs), automated teller machines, servercomputers, hand-held or laptop devices, multi-processor systems,microprocessor-based systems, programmable consumer electronics, networkPCs, appliances, lights, environmental control elements, minicomputers,mainframe computers and the like. The invention may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remoteprocessing devices that are linked through a communications network/busor other data transmission medium. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotecomputer storage media including memory storage devices, and clientnodes may in turn behave as server nodes.

FIG. 1 thus illustrates an example of a suitable computing systemenvironment 100 in which the invention may be implemented, although asmade clear above, the computing system environment 100 is only oneexample of a suitable computing environment and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Neither should the computing environment 100 be interpretedas having any dependency or requirement relating to any one orcombination of components illustrated in the exemplary operatingenvironment 100.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing theinvention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of acomputer 110. Components of computer 110 may include, but are notlimited to, a processing unit 120, a system memory 130, and a system bus121 that couples various system components including the system memoryto the processing unit 120. Processing unit 120 may comprises one ormore processors. The system bus 121 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By wayof example, and not limitation, such architectures include IndustryStandard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus,Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA)local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus (also knownas Mezzanine bus).

Computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer readable media.Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby computer 110 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatileand nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such as computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data.Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM,EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can accessed by computer 110. Communication media typicallyembodies computer readable instructions, data structures, programmodules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier waveor other transport mechanism and includes any information deliverymedia. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one ormore of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encodeinformation in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system 133(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computer 110, such as during start-up, istypically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 1 illustrates operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136, and program data 137.

The computer 110 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 1 illustrates a hard disk drive 141 that reads from or writes tonon-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 151that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 152,and an optical disk drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile optical disk 156, such as a CD ROM or other optical media.Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storagemedia that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include,but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards,digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solidstate ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 141 is typically connectedto the system bus 121 through an non-removable memory interface such asinterface 140, and magnetic disk drive 151 and optical disk drive 155are typically connected to the system bus 121 by a removable memoryinterface, such as interface 150.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 1 provide storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputer 110. In FIG. 1, for example, hard disk drive 141 is illustratedas storing operating system 144, application programs 145, other programmodules 146, and program data 147. Note that these components can eitherbe the same as or different from operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136, and program data 137. Operatingsystem 144, application programs 145, other program modules 146, andprogram data 147 are given different numbers here to illustrate that, ata minimum, they are different copies. A user may enter commands andinformation into the computer 110 through input devices such as akeyboard 162 and pointing device 161, commonly referred to as a mouse,trackball or touch pad. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like.These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit120 through a user input interface 160 that is coupled to the system bus121, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such asa parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A graphicsinterface 182, such as Northbridge, may also be connected to the systembus 121. Northbridge is a chipset that communicates with the CPU, orhost processing unit 120, and assumes responsibility for AGPcommunications. One or more graphics processing units (GPUs) 184 maycommunicate with graphics interface 182. In this regard, GPUs 184generally include on-chip memory storage, such as register storage andGPUs 184 communicate with a video memory 186. The invention may bedescribed more generally in connection with any coprocessor, of whichGPUs 184 are but one example. A monitor 191 or other type of displaydevice is also connected to the system bus 121 via an interface, such asa video interface 190, which may in turn communicate with video memory186. In addition to monitor 191, computers may also include otherperipheral output devices such as speakers 197 and printer 196, whichmay be connected through an output peripheral interface 195.

The computer 110 may operate in a networked or distributed environmentusing logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as aremote computer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer,a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common networknode, and typically includes many or all of the elements described aboverelative to the computer 110, although only a memory storage device 181has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connections depicted in FIG.1 include a local area network (LAN) 171 and a wide area network (WAN)173, but may also include other networks/buses. Such networkingenvironments are commonplace in homes, offices, enterprise-wide computernetworks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 110 is connectedto the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170. When used ina WAN networking environment, the computer 110 typically includes amodem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN173, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which may be internal orexternal, may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user inputinterface 160, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 110, orportions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. Byway of example, and not limitation, FIG. 1 illustrates remoteapplication programs 185 as residing on memory device 181. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing a communications link between the computers may beused.

Example System

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary system 200 in which the methodologiesdiscussed below can be employed. In the discussion immediately below,the system's components are first identified followed by a discussion oftheir functionality.

System Components

In the illustrated example, system 200 comprises a designer component202, a shape generator 204, and an exemplary application 206. Oneprimary focus of system 200 is to provide a way, in an application, tohave a very lightweight, fast runtime system that allows formodification of a shape or animation on the fly in the context of theapplication (which can typically comprise a game).

Designer component 202 comprises an external tools module that caninclude, among other components, modeling/animation systems 210 andshape/motion capture systems 212. The designer component also comprisesvarious shape offline tools 214 that comprise an abstract spacedefinition module 216 and an example position module 218 that positionsexamples in abstract space.

Application 206 comprises a shape runtime system 220 that is embedded inan application, such as a game, that uses the system described below todrive the animation of a character.

System Component Functionality

Typically, a designer relies on external modeling and animation systemsand/or geometry and motion capture technology (external tools 208) tocreate initial or base forms and motions. Additionally, from the baseform, other positions of the shape can be modeled that representmovement from the base shape. As an illustration, consider an objectthat has a shape. One way of capturing the object's shape might be toproject structured light onto the object so that a camera and computercan record the object's shape. This shape is digitized and can then beused in graphics applications. For a situation that involves motion, aperson might be outfitted with a number of reflectors and then filmed sothat a computer can capture their motion. In each of the these systems,once the images are captured they are very difficult to modify. In atraditional system, these captured images from externals tools 208 wouldflow directly to an application that would simply pull out the capturedimages and run them as appropriate in known ways.

In the illustrated and described embodiment, offline tools 214 enablethe designer to organize these example forms or motions that serve asinput into shape generator 204. To do so, the designer can choose a setof adjectives that characterize the forms or a set of adverbs thatcharacterize the motions. The adjectives or adverbs define an abstractspace and each adjective or adverb represents a separate axis in thisabstract space. For instance, adjectives that describe the form of ahuman arm may include gender, age, and elbow bend. These adjectives areused to define the axes in an abstract space.

In accordance with the present embodiment, an example authoring processwould follow steps such as:

-   -   1. Create character using boned skinning method    -   2. For each joint        -   For each desired pose            -   adjust shape using any technique            -   save keypose/snapshot            -   get next pose        -   do next joint

(This order of operations is just an example and is not required buteach desired key pose should be saved.)

After the authoring process is complete, then for each joint for eachpose:

-   -   1. deform model using base skinning technique selected for this        hw    -   2. extract differences from this result to the actual authored        model    -   3. save them with corresponding pose-space parameters (joint        angles).

Once the designer has defined various poses, e.g., using offline tools214 (FIG. 2), each joint's motion is annotated with its location inparameter space that defines its location relative to degrees of freedomfor that joint. FIG. 3 further illustrates the parameter space or posespace for a joint. There, each axis describes a degree of freedom inparameter space. The vector “shoulder bend” can range over the parameterspace depending on the movement of shoulder i.e. the particular yaw,pitch and twist. According to an aspect of the invention, for a givengenerated joint movement in parameter space, the closest predefinedjoint parameters (342) to a point (341) on the skin ars selected. In theexample, of FIG. 3, three predefined joint parameters are selected basedon the number of degrees of freedom of the joint. The parameters areprefereably maintained in a Delaunay triangulation which can be searchedto use in interpolating corrections to apply as described more fullybelow.

Based on the annotated examples and the abstract space, shape generator204 solves for the coefficients of a smoothly-varying interpolation ofthe forms and motions across the abstract space. These coefficientsprovide the means to interpolate between the example forms and motionsat runtime. In the context of this document, the output produced by theshape generator 204 is referred to as a “shape” when interpolatingforms.

At runtime, application 206 chooses, at each moment in time, desiredvalues for the adjectives or adverbs, thus defining a specific locationin the abstract space. For instance, a character can be set to be happyor sad or anywhere in between; an arm can be specified to be more maleor female, or to respond to the bending of the elbow. The shape and verbruntime system 220 then responds to the selected location in theabstract space by efficiently blending the annotated examples to producean interpolated form or motion.

Consider that a shape is a collection of numbers that numericallydescribe the degrees of freedom (DOFs). For instance, a shape iscomposed of many vertices and triangles. Each vertex can be consideredas three numbers (x, y, z) and there may be a few hundred vertices thatdescribe a shape. Typically, there may be a few thousand numbers thatare associated with each example and that describes the example. Withrespect to motion, such is analogously described by a collection ofnumbers that might define, for example, the motion of an arm during adefined period of time.

Shape Generation

Given a set of shapes, the challenge is to ascertain mathematically howa shape should look during motion. This includes shapes that were notpredefined by a designer. FIG. 4 provides an illustration thatdemonstrates the methodologies described herein. FIG. 4 is a portion(torso) 400 of an illustrative computer-generated character. The shapeof the character is described by an artist in accordance with atechnique like the techniques described above. The shape is thenrepresented by the computer as a skin surface over a skeleton or frame.The skin surface is represented as a mesh of polygons, such as polygon420. Each polygon has vertices. In this example, the triangular polygonhas three vertices 421. The shape of the particular character in thisillustration comprises two limbs 401 a, 401 b that are attached to amain body 402 at shoulder 403 a, 403 b, respectively. Each limb has anupper segment 405 a, 405 b and a lower segment 407 a, 407 b and has thecapability to visually simulate movement. This simulated movement isaided by a conceptual frame (e.g., skeleton). Here, the frame comprisesframe segments 410 a, 411 a, 412, 411 b, 410 b. The frame segments arejoined at joints 413 a, 413 b, 414 a, 414 b. The simulated movementoccurs primarily about the joints, e.g., 413 a, 413 b, 414 a, 414 b. Forexample, lower segment 407 b could virtually bend with respect to uppersegment 405 b about joint 413 b.

FIG. 5A-5C illustrates the methodology employed to simulate movement ofthe shape about the joints. In the illustration, the movement of a limb401 is used to illustrate the general principles of movement of shapesabout joints. Here, limb 401 comprises an upper segment 405 (e.g., abicep) and a lower portion 407 (e.g., a forearm). Each of segments 405,407 have a corresponding frame segment 410, 411 about which the mesh ofpoints 421 is wrapped to form virtual skin surface. The frame segments410, 411 are joined at joint 413. A change in this portion 401 of theshape (e.g., 400) would be simulated as follows: The entire limb 401 onboth sides of joint 413 are mathematically transformed, once for eachsegment 405, 407; and the two segments 405, 407 are blended together toproduce the changed shape of limb 401. For example, FIG. 5A illustrateshow limb 401 is transformed for motion by the upper segment 405. FIG. 5Billustrates how the limb is transformed for motion by the lower segment407. FIG. 5C illustrates how the transformed upper segment 405 and thetransformed lower segment 407 are blended together to mathematicallyapproximate the movement of limb 401 about joint 413. Note that the limbmay have also experienced movement about joint 414. A similar processwould apply to that joint movement.

FIG. 5D further illustrates the method for blending the upper segmentand lower segment together about the joint section of the limb. Inessence, the entire limb 401 is represented by frame segments 410, 41and an outer skin that is represented by a mesh comprising a pluralityof points 421. Each point has three dimensions (x, y, and z). The limb401 is transformed by applying a transform function to each framesegment 410, 411 (i.e., moving the frame segments in x, y, z space). Forexample, movement to the frame segments may be applied to indicate therelative position of the shape. The movement to the frame segments mustthen be applied to the outer skin (i.e., the mesh) to create theillusion of realistic movement of a skinned body. The movement of framesegments 410, 411 is generally applied to each point in the mesh to moveit to a proper position in space.

The process is straightforward for points further away from jointsections. However, in areas proximate the joint section, the behavior ofouter skins is generally much more complex than the movement of theframe segments (e.g., to represent muscle bulges and the like). Inparticular the outer skin in the joint area is be influence by both themovement of both frame segments (and even the movement of other framesegments, e.g., about joint 414). Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG.5D, a function F is applied to each point 421 in the mesh to determinethe amount of influence that a mesh point 421 experiences from eachframe section. Note for example, in the area 501 right at the joint,mesh points are equally influenced by both frame segments 410, 411.

FIG. 5D illustrates how a mathematical approximation can be made of ashape to create virtual motion. However, the visual perception of jointsections (e.g., the skin around the joint 413) can be further enhancedby applying artist corrections to the shape in the area of a joint thathas undergone a change. After the first mathematical approximation ismade, the skin in the area proximate the joint may not provide the bestvisual realism. For example, points 421 in the mesh may experiencediscontinuities that do not accurately mimic realistic motion. Toenhance the realism, artist correction data may be blended in the jointarea to correct the look of the joint.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram that describes steps in a method in accordancewith the described embodiment. The method can be implemented in anysuitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof. Aftermaking the mathematical approximation of the shape of the outer skin asdescribed above, the mesh may experience errors that detract from thevisual approximation of a realistic shape. For example, as shown in 602,limb 401 has experience discontinuities proximate joint 413.Accordingly, correction data 604 is applied to the joint area with acorrection factor 606 that is a blend of data points obtained from asearch of parameter space. The correction data is predefined data thathas preferably been generated by an artist or in accordance with thetechniques describe in connection with FIG. 2. However, only a portionof the artist generated data proximate a joint area need be applied. Sofor example, correction data may exist for a joint bend of 45 degreesand correction data may exist for a joint bend of 30 degrees.Thereafter, a search is made for the most appropriate correction data toapply to the joint area and that correction data is blended with thejoint to smooth out the visual effect to provide more realism. Notably,more than one set of correction data may be applied and blended into thejoint area. Here the search determines that the correction is a blendfrom between the 30 and 45 degree points.

Selecting Corrections

In the illustrated example, a specific shape of the individual basisfunctions is selected. The joint parameters are used to identify whichare the nearest key poses in joint parameter space via a spatial search.The corrections shown in FIG. 5 were illustrated in two dimension. Inpractice, the space that is searched for corrections comprises a set ofmeshes in three dimensional space. Hence, to make the search for thecorrections to apply more efficient a spatial search is applied bycomparing the approximated joint parameters to the set of correctionjoint parameters (i.e., joint correction meshes).

The corrections are then interpolated to the values at the actualcurrent joint parameters, and then added onto the base skinning meshcomputed by the real-time hardware technique. In this technique thetotal amount of data that must be sent to the hardware accelerator(e.g., the GPU) is minimized. The data sent comprises:

-   -   The base dataset required for conventional hardware skinning,        plus    -   A number of correction datasets equal to joint space dimension        +1

Further, these corrections being small can often use lower-precisionrepresentations such assigned byte or signed shorts. In the presentexample of a character elbow joint, the parameter space is 2-D up-downversus left-right (i.e. there are 2 joint angles). Poses snapshoted inthis space cover a 2-D surface. This can be searched on the host CPU toidentify the closest points to use in interpolating the corrections toapply. The triangulation allows rapid identification of which 3snapshots enclose the current parameter values.

Then the correction values at each of these 3 points are interpolatedusing some scheme such as barycentric, but potentially higher orderscheme as long as any precomputation of interpolants results only invalues storable at those three joint (parameter) space points.BaryCentric interpolation performs a Delauney tetrahedralization of theobservations, determines in which tetrahedron a grid point lies, andapplies barycentric weights to the data values at each vertex of thetetrahedron. The barycentric weights essentially perform trilinearinterpolation within the tetrahedron. For example, storing gradient dataat each vertex would enable interpolations of higher-orders and possiblyhigher levels of continuity with no increase in the number ofjoint-space points required. For 3-dimensional joint parameterizations,a voronoi tetrahedralization is performed resulting in 4 corrections tobe blended before addition to the base skinned model.

An interpolation scheme could use two joint parameters such as twoangles at shoulder theta, and phi. Thereafter all key poses in theta,phi space can be triangulated using Delaunay triangulation. Then atruntime, the angles theta and phi are searched to determine whichtriangle is relevant. This determines which sets of correction vertexbuffers to set into vertex stream. The barycentric or radial basisweights for those 3 sets of correction data can be generated and set asshader constants for interpolating correction streams.

In an alternative embodiment the perturbations can be stored on themodel at points computed by tessellation of a lower-resolution basemesh, or at those computed by a texturing operation. In this case there-application of these interpolated corrections would use standarddisplacement mapping:

Tessellation Based Rendering

The base mesh is stored at a reduced resolution being the controlvertices of higher order primitives that will be tessellated inhardware. The corrections at each snapshot correspond directly to thepoints that will be generated by the hardware tessellator.

For each such point generated, the corresponding correction factor iscomputed by interpolation of the higher-order primitive.

Bump or Displacement Map-Based Rendering.

The model is textured i.e. has a 2-D surface parameterization applied toit stored as u-v coordinates. This parameterization can be used to mapcolor values via texturing, lighting values via bump mapping, or heightvalues via displacement mapping. In this case, the correction valuesstored at each snapshot pose can be stored as maps using this per-texelparameterization. Then they can be used as either displacement maps (orbump maps if the distance of the character is far enough). Thedisplacement maps (or bump maps) are interpolated from the adjacentsnapshots, and can be applied using conventional displacement mapping(or bump mapping) techniques.

FIG. 7 further illustrates how the process operates on a CPU 702 inconjunction with a GPU 704. CPU 702 performs certain of the taskassociated with the graphics generation techniques described herein. Forexample, the search for the joint parameters can be performed bysearching the CPU memory 706 for the closest predefined jointscorrections 708 to a selected (e.g., mathematically generated) jointangle (e.g., using a Vornoi search). After finding the closest set ofjoint corrections 708, the selected joint corrections are passed fromCPU 702 to GPU 704 over graphics bus 710 along with the base mesh.Because only selected correction data is passed over graphics bus 710,bus 710 does not become a bottleneck. GPU 704 then performs the blendingof a base mesh 714 with the selected joint corrections 708 that arestored in GPU memory 712.

The actual blending of the corrections for each joint area can also bedone on the host CPU 702 as well as the reduction in informationrequired by this phase is beneficial there also.

Also, the update of the corrections can be performed at a separatetemporal resolution. For example: If the joint positions at consecutiveframes do not differ much, then only the base skinned mesh need berecomputed, and the same corrections as last frame are applied.

The run-time process may be summarized according to the following steps:

-   -   1. Run animation system to extract desired joint parameters for        all joints.    -   2. Perform skinning using selected base skinning technique.    -   3. Identify nearest snapshot poses and corresponding        corrections.    -   4. Interpolate corrections from snapshot poses to current pose    -   5. Add these corrections to parameters to base skinning results.    -   6. Render the shape.

The base skinned mesh provides the basis to start from. This enablescorrection factors to be stored as packed 8-bit vectors. The base meshshould preferably have very blurry distribution of skin weights so thatall joints will usually be smooth so that correction factors can beclearly parameterized. In this case, the authoring process would takeskinned character and move it into a desired pose. The vertices would bemoved around to provide desired muscle bulges, etc. Snapshots of the keypose corrections would be saved. The tool preferably would subtractcurrent vertex positions from “originals due purely to skinning” andsaves positions and normals as 8-bit packed quantities.

As mentioned above, while exemplary embodiments of the present inventionhave been described in connection with various computing devices andnetwork architectures, the underlying concepts may be applied to anycomputing device or system in which it is desirable to perform computeranimation of characters. Thus, the techniques of performing thecharacter skinning may be applied to a variety of applications anddevices. For instance, the techniques of the invention may be applied tocomputer games, movie animations, etc. While exemplary programminglanguages, names and examples are chosen herein as representative ofvarious choices, these languages, names and examples are not intended tobe limiting.

The various techniques described herein may be implemented in connectionwith hardware or software or, where appropriate, with a combination ofboth. Thus, the methods and apparatus of the present invention, orcertain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code(i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppydiskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storagemedium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by amachine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus forpracticing the invention. In the case of program code execution onprogrammable computers, the computing device will generally include aprocessor, a storage medium readable by the processor (includingvolatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least oneinput device, and at least one output device. One or more programs thatmay utilize the managing techniques of the present invention, e.g.,through the use of a data processing API or the like, are preferablyimplemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programminglanguage to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s)can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In anycase, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, andcombined with hardware implementations.

The methods and apparatus of the present invention may also be practicedvia communications embodied in the form of program code that istransmitted over some transmission medium, such as over electricalwiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via any other form oftransmission, wherein, when the program code is received and loaded intoand executed by a machine, such as an EPROM, a gate array, aprogrammable logic device (PLD), a client computer, a video recorder orthe like, or a receiving machine having the resource managementcapabilities as described in exemplary embodiments above becomes anapparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on ageneral-purpose processor, the program code combines with the processorto provide a unique apparatus that operates to invoke the functionalityof the present invention. Additionally, any storage techniques used inconnection with the present invention may invariably be a combination ofhardware and software. While the present invention has been described inconnection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it isto be understood that other similar embodiments may be used ormodifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment forperforming the same function of the present invention without deviatingtherefrom. For example, while exemplary network environments of theinvention are described in the context of a networked environment, suchas a peer to peer networked environment, one skilled in the art willrecognize that the present invention is not limited thereto, and thatthe methods, as described in the present application may apply to anycomputing device or environment, such as a gaming console, handheldcomputer, portable computer, etc., whether wired or wireless, and may beapplied to any number of such computing devices connected via acommunications network, and interacting across the network. Furthermore,it should be emphasized that a variety of computer platforms, includinghandheld device operating systems and other application specificoperating systems are contemplated, especially as the number of wirelessnetworked devices continues to proliferate. Still further, the presentinvention may be implemented in or across a plurality of processingchips or devices, and storage may similarly be affected across aplurality of devices. Therefore, the present invention should not belimited to any single embodiment, but rather should be construed inbreadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims.

1-60. (canceled)
 61. A computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions for generating a computer graphic of ashape to be animated, said shape having at least one joint wherein theshape changes about the joint, wherein the computer-executableinstructions perform: providing a mesh comprising at least three points,each point defined in three-dimensional space, said mesh indicative ofthe shape in a base position; providing information indicative of theposition of the points in the mesh corresponding to the shape atpredefined positions wherein the shape has changed about the joint withrespect to the base position; generating the position of the at leastthree points as an interpolation between the information indicative ofthe position of the points in the mesh corresponding to the shape atleast two selected positions from the predefined positions; wherein theat least two positions are identified as the closest positions inparameter space to a desired position.
 62. The computer-readable mediumof claim 61, wherein the selected number of positions in parameter spaceis at least equal to the number of degrees of freedom about the jointplus one.
 63. The computer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein theselected positions are selected by way of a spatial search.
 64. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein generated position of theat least three points are rendered as a two-dimensional representationof three-dimensional space.
 65. The computer-readable medium of claim64, wherein the selection is performed by a central processing unit andthe rendering is performed by a graphics processor unit.
 66. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein the shape isrepresentative of a character having an outer skin.
 67. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 66, wherein the joint isrepresentative of a character having segments that move with respect toone another.
 68. The computer-readable medium of claim 67, wherein thejoint is representative of bone segments that move about the joint. 69.The computer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein the informationindicative of the position comprises offsets to the mesh points from thebase position.
 70. The computer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein thecomputer-executable instructions perform computing the offset bysubtracting vertices in the predefined positions.
 71. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein the predefined positionsare determined by an authoring tool wherein the shape is posed.
 72. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein said selecting isperformed by a software application.
 73. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 71, wherein software application is a game application.
 74. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein said generating isperformed at run time.
 75. The computer-readable medium of claim 64,wherein said rendering is performed at run time.
 76. A method forgenerating a computer graphic of a shape to be animated, said shapehaving at least one joint wherein the shape changes about the joint,comprising: means for providing a mesh comprising at least three points,each point defined in three-dimensional space, said mesh indicative ofthe shape in a base position; means for providing information indicativeof the position of the points in the mesh corresponding to the shape atpredefined positions wherein the shape has changed about the joint withrespect to the base position; means for generating the position of theat least three points as an interpolation between the informationindicative of the position of the points in the mesh corresponding tothe shape at least two selected positions from the predefined positions;wherein the at least two positions are identified as the closestpositions in parameter space to a desired position.
 77. The method ofclaim 76, wherein the selected number of positions in parameter space isat least equal to the number of degrees of freedom about the joint plusone.
 78. The method of claim 76, wherein the selected positions areselected by way of a spatial search.
 79. The method of claim 76, whereingenerated position of the at least three points are rendered as atwo-dimensional representation of three-dimensional space.
 80. Themethod of claim 79, wherein the selection is performed by a centralprocessing unit and the rendering is performed by a graphics processorunit.
 81. The method of claim 76, wherein the shape is representative ofa character having an outer skin.
 82. The method of claim 81, whereinthe joint is representative of a character having segments that movewith respect to one another.
 83. The method of claim 82, wherein thejoint is representative of bone segments that move about the joint. 84.The method of claim 76, wherein the information indicative of theposition comprises offsets to the mesh points from the base position.85. The method of claim 76, comprising means for computing the offset bysubtracting vertices in the predefined positions.
 86. The method ofclaim 76, wherein the predefined positions are determined by anauthoring tool wherein the shape is posed.
 87. The method of claim 76,wherein said means for selecting is performed by a software application.88. The method of claim 86, wherein software application is a gameapplication.
 89. The method of claim 76, wherein said means forgenerating is performed at run time.
 90. The method of claim 79, whereinsaid means for rendering is performed at run time.